Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system and apparatus for protecting a shoreline from erosion, flooding and the like from fluctuations in the water level in various bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, oceans and the like. The invention also generally relates to a system and apparatus for quickly and efficiently closing a breach in a levee, dam or other water containment barrier. The system and apparatus of the present invention includes a series of watertight, hollow fabricated structures that can be quickly filled with various materials for retaining the hollow structures in a desired position. The hollow structures are relatively lightweight and can be easily transported to a use site by various modes of transportation including over the road, floating into position, airborne into position and manually oriented into final relationship to the shoreline being protected or levee break being plugged or closed. The system and apparatus also includes a mat closure device to close gaps between adjacent ends of the hollow structures and between the hollow structures and a levee and/or seawall to provide a continuous barrier. Each of the structures are generally triangular in cross-sectional configuration having top and back corner edges formed as a radius and the front corner, facing the water being formed as an acute angle to minimize cavitation and undermining due to wave action, current action or the like. In addition to use in shoreline protection or levee break closure, the system and apparatus also has utility in building highway bridges by enabling relatively simplified highway bridge abutment structures to be formed.